"Someone (not a crank) is working on it, so it must be real"
The specific example I am thinking of came up years ago on a different forum when I expressed my usual skepticism about space colonization. The person wrote "Why are we conducting CELSS [closed environment life support system] R&D at all? If the answer isn't a long term goal of human space expansion, then it seems utterly pointless."
The guy is a fervent believer in space colonization, and I did not quite have the heart to tell him "Very possibly it is pointless. Or might lead to some unexpected insights in biology, yet not to your cherished goal." Nevertheless, is there a name for this logical fallacy?
The specific example I am thinking of came up years ago on a different forum when I expressed my usual skepticism about space colonization. The person wrote "Why are we conducting CELSS [closed environment life support system] R&D at all? If the answer isn't a long term goal of human space expansion, then it seems utterly pointless."
The guy is a fervent believer in space colonization, and I did not quite have the heart to tell him "Very possibly it is pointless. Or might lead to some unexpected insights in biology, yet not to your cherished goal." Nevertheless, is there a name for this logical fallacy?
via JREF Forum http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=270499&goto=newpost
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